OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian homicide rate jumped to its highest level in four years in 2015, with a quarter of the victims reported by police as being an Aboriginal person, according to data from Statistics Canada released on Wednesday.

Statistics CanadaNovember 23, 2016Homicide rates continue to be higher for Aboriginal people than for non-Aboriginal people Aboriginal people accounted for 25% of homicide victims in 2015, compared to 23% in 2014(see CANSIM table253-0009). http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2016001/article/14668-eng.htmIn total, police reported 148 Aboriginal victims of homicide in 2015 compared to 120 in 2014 (Table 3).Aboriginal people represented an estimated 5% of the Canadian population in 2015 (Statistics Canada 2015). In 2015, the rate of homicide for Aboriginal people increased by 20% to 8.77 Aboriginal victims per 100,000Aboriginal people, from 7.30 in 20146(Table 3). In comparison, the rate of homicide among non-Aboriginal peopleincreased 13% from 1.17 non-Aboriginal victims per 100,000 non-Aboriginal people to 1.31. Overall, the rate ofhomicide for Aboriginal people in 2015 was about seven times higher than for non-Aboriginal people. Aboriginal males were more frequently victims of homicide compared to non-Aboriginal males. In 2015, the rate ofhomicide for Aboriginal males was seven times that for non-Aboriginal males (12.85 per 100,000 populationcompared to 1.87). Further, the rate for Aboriginal males was three times that for Aboriginal females (12.85compared to 4.80). Amongst female victims, the rate of homicide of Aboriginal females was six times that of non-Aboriginal females(4.80 per 100,000 compared to 0.77). Of note, the rate for Aboriginal females was higher than the rate for nonAboriginalmales (4.80 compared to 1.87) (Table 3). These findings are consistent with those reported in 2014. In 2015, police reported solving a higher proportion of homicides of Aboriginal victims within the reporting year, thanthose of non-Aboriginal victims (85% compared to 71%). The proportion of homicides solved by police werecomparable between Aboriginal male and Aboriginal female victims (86% and 83%). Within non-Aboriginalhomicides however, police reported solving two thirds (66%) of male homicides, while solving 85% of femalehomicides. Where the Aboriginal identity of the accused was reported for the 525 accused identified in solved homicide cases,33% were identified as Aboriginal persons, and 67% were non-Aboriginal persons7(see CANSIM table 253-0010).Further, the rate of Aboriginal persons accused of homicide was 10.13 persons for every 100,000 Aboriginal people.This rate was 10 times higher than the rate of accused among non-Aboriginal people (1.01) (Table 3). This is equalto the finding for the rate of accused persons by Aboriginal identity reported in the previous year. In 2015, there were 61 female persons accused homicide, and 37 were Aboriginal (61%) while 24 were nonAboriginal(39%). The rate of Aboriginal females accused of homicide was 31 times higher than rate of nonAboriginalfemale accused (4.33 per 100,000 population compared to 0.14). For the 464 males accused persons,134 (29%) were Aboriginal and 321 (69%) were non-Aboriginal. For rate for Aboriginal male accused was about8 times higher than the rate for non-Aboriginal male accused (16.09 per 100,000 compared to 1.90) (Table 3).http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2016001/article/14668-eng.pdf